Discrimination training facilitates pigeons' performance on one-trial-per-day delayed matching of key location

Six pigeons were tested on a one-trial-per-day variant of delayed matching of key location. In one condition, a trial began with the illumination of a pair of quasi-randomly selected pecking keys in a large 10-key test box. Pigeons' pecks to one key (the sample) were reinforced with 8-second access to grain on a variable-interval 30-second schedule, whereas pecks to the other key (the distractor) had no scheduled consequences. In the second condition, the nonreinforced distractor was not presented. In both conditions, subjects were removed from the apparatus after 15 minutes and placed in a holding cage. Subjects were subsequently replaced in the box after a delay (retention interval) of 30 seconds and were reexposed to the illuminated sample and distractor keys for 1 minute. If a pigeon made more pecks to the sample during this interval, the distractor was extinguished and subsequent pecks to the sample were reinforced on the previous schedule for an additional 15 minutes. If, however, a pigeon made more pecks to the distractor, both keys were extinguished and the subject was returned to its home cage. For all subjects, matching-to-sample accuracy was higher in the first condition. In a second experiment, the retention interval was increased to 5, 15, and 30 minutes, and then to 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours. Most subjects remembered the correct key location for up to 4 hours, and in one case, up to 24 hours, demonstrating a spatial-memory proficiency far better than previously reported in this species on delayed matching tasks. The results are discussed in terms of the commonly held distinction between working and reference memory.     

Comparing one-step M-estimators of location when there are more than two groups

Methods for comparing means are known to be highly nonrobust in terms of Type II errors. The problem is that slight shifts from normal distributions toward heavy-tailed distributions inflate the standard error of the sample mean. In contrast, the standard error of various robust measures of location, such as the one-step M-estimator, are relatively unaffected by heavy tails. Wilcox recently examined a method of comparing the one-step M-estimators of location corresponding to two independent groups which provided good control over the probability of a Type I error even for unequal sample sizes, unequal variances, and different shaped distributions. There is a fairly obvious extension of this procedure to pairwise comparisons of more than two independent groups, but simulations reported here indicate that it is unsatisfactory. A slight modification of the procedure is found to give much better results, although some caution must be taken when there are unequal sample sizes and light-tailed distributions. An omnibus test is examined as well.     

不同诉求方式的手机网页广告效果研究

本研究以50名视力正常的大学生为被试,采用眼动追踪技术,研究他们在浏览不同诉求方式、不同位置广告时对手机广告的记忆程度、喜好程度。结果发现:(1)对于不同诉求方式的网页广告,理性诉求组的注视次数及注视时间明显高于感性诉求组。(2)网页广告的位置对被试的记忆成绩与眼动模式有影响,表现为下部的注视次数增加,注视时间长。记忆成绩中下部比上部记忆效果稍好。     

The Impact of Phantom Decoys on Choices and Perceptions

Phantoms are dominating, attractive alternatives that are unavailable at the time of choice. They occupy different positions in the attribute space, and their unavailability can be either known or unknown to individuals. Although different theories have offered explanations for the influence that phantoms exert on individual choices, they have largely overlooked phantom knowledge. Contradictory predictions can be drawn from these theories, and none provides a good account of the pattern of effects that emerges from our data. We suggest that these contradictions appear because the different theories do not address phantom location and knowledge jointly. When considering phantom knowledge together with location, we observe a consistent overall pattern of effects that encompasses all predictions that could be made on the basis of each theory. We find that known phantoms are stronger when close, and favor the target product, whereas unknown phantoms are stronger when far, and favor the competitor. Finally, we look beyond shifts in choice shares and find that phantom decoys can also affect individuals' post‐choice evaluations and reactions in terms of perceived justice, decision satisfaction, and repatronage intention. Our results show that post‐choice evaluations are driven by phantom knowledge, not phantom location. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The contents of long-term memory and the emergence of knowledge

Through a review of the literature, this paper proposes arguments in favour of a multimodal, dynamic, functional, and situational conception of memory. Memory is assumed to contain traces that reflect past experiences. The properties of these experiences are considered to be distributed across multiple neuronal systems, which are responsible, in particular, for sensorimotor and emotional processing. Memory is dynamic because knowledge emerges almost continuously from the activation and integration of these multimodal components. Memory is functional and situational because knowledge emerges from the subject's activity in a given situation, that is from a type of resonance between the properties of the past experiences that have shaped the neuronal networks and the properties of present experiences.     

Estimating Independent Locally Shifted Random Utility Models for Ranking Data

We present a mixed-effects location scale model (MELSM) for examining the daily dynamics of affect in dyads. The MELSM includes person and time-varying variables to predict the location, or individual means, and the scale, or within-person variances. It also incorporates a submodel to account for between-person variances. The dyadic specification can accommodate individual and partner effects in both the location and the scale components, and allows random effects for all location and scale parameters. All covariances among the random effects, within and across the location and the scale are also estimated. These covariances offer new insights into the interplay of individual mean structures, intra-individual variability, and the influence of partner effects on such factors. To illustrate the model, we use data from 274 couples who provided daily ratings on their positive and negative emotions toward their relationship – up to 90 consecutive days. The model is fit using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo methods, and includes subsets of predictors in order to demonstrate the flexibility of this approach. We conclude with a discussion on the usefulness and the limitations of the MELSM for dyadic research.     

客体位置判断的视触关联研究

本文从个体对客体位置信息的加工出发,对触动觉位置判断以及视触位置信息整合的特点进行了探讨.两个实验分别从触动觉客体位置判断和视触位置判断及视触位置信息整合进行了研究.结果表明,当个体伸手对客体位置进行判断时,对对侧空间客体位置的变化感知更加敏感和准确,同时对距离呈现中心较远的客体的位置判断成绩较好,而客体呈现时所在的半空间对左右手的客体位置判断成绩并没有产生一致的影响;在视触空间位置信息整合时,随着空间信息加工任务难度的增大,个体通过手、胳膊的关节以及本体感觉所获得的对空间位置信息的表征的准确度可能会下降,而视觉对触动觉的引导作用开始显现出来并变得比较重要.     

自由观看实景图片时注意的空间偏向

本研究采用眼动仪直接记录40名在校大学生及研究生（平均年龄21.9岁,SD=1.8）自由观看实景图片的眼动情况,考察自然状态下视觉注意在真实场景中的空间偏向。为了控制图片不同区域刺激特征显著性对结果的影响,将被试随机分为两组,一组观看正向图片,一组观看倒置图片。对图片四个象限上的首次注视概率、首次眼跳方向和注视时间百分比分别进行2（水平方向）×2（垂直方向）×2（呈现方式）的重复测量方差分析,结果表明,存在独立于刺激特征的空间注意偏向,表现在水平方向具有左侧注意偏向,垂直方向具有上侧注意偏向。